Muscle Testing

I have the recipe, and I am at the grocery store. All ingredients are purchased, except for one: noodles, the kind of noodles that come in a single serve package with spices in a sachet to sprinkle, when the noodles are cooked. 

I pick up the package and as I hold it in my hands, my temples begin to throb to the point of feeling like my brains are going to blow out of my head casing. Okay, I say to myself, Not that one. I pick up another brand, and holding this one, gets the pulsating and pumping in my temples started, and in short order, I put this one back on the shelf. I decide to try one more time, but I feel so physically repulsed that I am hesitant, and disinclined to go through the process yet again. The recipe, I say to myself, Requires this noodle, uncooked, to add some crunch to the salad: Do I forgo this ingredient? I pick up one more package, and it takes me less than a second to place it back where it belongs, on the shelf, dangerously inedible. 

Have you had an upset stomach from something you ate? What about a headache after something you drank? Does it sound crazy to you to learn that your body will warn you of danger, before consumption? Maybe you already know that dairy products churn your innards, or cause head congestion. Perhaps you understand that brushing zebra grass with your bare arm, can make that arm itchy, and that dog dander, or just plain old dust, makes your eyes red and runny. If it affects your outside, dear one, what about the inside of you?

Again I ask you: Does it sound crazy to you to learn that your body will warn you of danger, before consumption?

There is an expression, once burned, twice shy, and it is applicable to individual physical experiences, and human interactions. If you put your hand on a hot stove and burn yourself, you will be shy, or reticent, about ever doing that again. If you have experienced the burn of betrayal in friendship, you will be hesitant, one would hope, in trusting that person in the future. The once burned lesson, is a good one, for injury prevention, if you heed the warning, to be shy of repeating actions that have wounded in the past. 

It took me a long while to acknowledge that I can't do whatever I want. This sentence seems so juvenile, that I chuckle as I continue to write. I really cannot have Baskin & Robbins chocolate mousse royal, or cheese on my burger, pasta, salad etc. Correction: I actually can have these dairy products, if I want to guarantee myself a massive headache, that has me immobilized for an entire day, for fear of movement that results in extreme nausea and vomiting. I learned the hard way what dairy does to my body, and while I see others not suffering the way I do, I have learned that I cannot pretend this time, if there is a next time, will be different, for me. 

I say all of the above to tell you this: Your body knows what is good for you, before the item ever touches your fingertips, your lips, tongue, throat, stomach. You know too, don't you dear one, what is bad, and what is good, for you. Look at yourself, and look around you: you know who listens and heeds warnings, and you can see with your own eyes, those that ignore and dismiss, the alarm bells that sound, prior to them eating what they eat, touching what they touch, and engaging in activities that they ought to steer clear, far, and away from. Your body is you, and your are your body, and there must be an understanding, that what you do inside your shell, impacts every atom that makes you up, and the very essence of who you are. This is why people suffer from low self-esteem, cognitive dissonance, and a lack of a solid sense of integrity, because they betray themselves when they go against what is good and right for their own well-being. 

I presume you can sense when your spouse, child, best friend, or co-worker, is happy, sad, tense, anxious, overwhelmed, irritated. You can read these moods and emotions just by being near. Now transfer this knowing to all of your experiences, including selecting what to eat. Read the room, and read your self, and you will become aware that there is so much going on that requires your attention, prior to making your decisions, decisions that may be life altering, that it behooves you to perk up when your senses are firing warning shots to grab your gaze. 

In modern lingo, there are woke people and awake people. The Bible Author wants sleepers to arise. The Bible talks about the blind seeing and the deaf hearing. The Bible mentions the lame walking, and leaping for joy, but none of this is possible without conscientious, concerted, and consistent effort. We cannot coast to the finish line of life: we must bound with bounce in our steps, and this means we have to be accountable on many fronts, here are a few: 

• What you eat and drink brightens or darkens your countenance and disposition
• How much you move affects your weight, joints, organs etc
• Who you spend time with impacts your mental health
• What you do with your spare time is telltale about what is important to you
• What you think about most of the day indicates what you value most

Pay attention, and you will learn so much about yourself and what is beneficial; alternatively, when you are honest in your self-assessment, you will admit that some of what you think and do, and some of the people you spend time with, aren't very good for you at all. 

I will end with this message to you, dear one: 

Your body knows. Your body whispers, Help me, then raises its voice, I am suffering, and eventually, it will shout, STOP IT RIGHT NOW! I am going to break. 

Heed, and I pray you good health.